Saturday Night Fiasco

2013.01.28

We get real wild on Saturday nights. I spent much of the evening trying to find a box to house my giant ceramic Christmas tree I posted about here. Then, I thought I’d tackle what seemed to be a simple project: clean the pole lamp we inherited from my husband’s grandma.

“What’s up. I lived in your grandma’s living room for the past sixty years. Can I chill at your place?”

What began an easy project became a series of unfortunate events. Don’t get me wrong though: Grandma we love you and I love(d) the lamp.

It had been sitting in our garage for a time, waiting for the perfect time to be moved it in and put up. I started cleaning the shades with a wet paper towel and removed them from the socket. Then I saw this.

“So I tried to burn the house down. No big deal, I didn’t succeed.”

At some point the wiring had caught on fire and literally charred the shade. Yikes. Better soak them in water. I put them in the sink with a bit of dish soap and went back to the lamp. Next I thought I’d tackle cleaning the pole. I was so motivated and still in a rather cheerful mood.

“Yeah…I might be in terrible condition.”

Flecks of finish came off all parts of the pole. At this point I was getting really discouraged and called my ever-so-cheerful husband in for backup. I wanted to tighten the mechanism that hold the shades because they had become floppy and kept banging into the pole. He obliged while I went back to the sink to clean the shades.

“It’s just a little glaze! I could easily be fixed! I just need six hours of your time and some cash.”

I pulled my favorite shade out, the pink one, the one I was planning on basing the whole guest room paint color on, and got to work gently cleaning with a cloth. The pink finish came off onto the cloth and left clear glass.

I came back to my husband who had completely taken out the wiring of the lamp and took stock in the lamp. We decided to put everything back together and just hang it up in the guest room while I decided if I would refinish this piece or throw it in the trash.

So I took it upstairs and went to set it up. It was too tall. Curses. Literally curses flying out of my mouth (sorry Grandma, it’s not you. It’s your lamp). I almost threw it down the stairs as I trudged to our first and taller floor. I tried to put it in the dining room. Too. Tall.

Now the lamp and I are at an impasse. In order for it to continue on its pitiful life, I would have to do several things.

1. Rewire the lamp.
2. Sand and repaint the pole.
3. Remove all the finish and repaint the shades.
4. Apologize to Grandma if she is reading this post.
5. Make our ceilings 6″ taller.

The other members of the Snag crew are in agreement: throw it in the trash. My husband probably already thinks it is there. But I think I might be able to help it overcome all of its flaws.

Thoughts on what you think should happen? Did I waste my entire Saturday night trying to rescue it? I’m thinking maybe so. But that’s ok, we had our Snag Christmas party on Sunday so the whole weekend wasn’t lost!

2 Comments

What a bummer! Could you reuse parts of it? Put the globes on something else? Spray paint the base a funky color and use it outside to hold plants or wind chimes? That might be the hoarder in me talking and so pitch it if it would make you feel better

I think it’s going in the trash, but I’ll be saving the wooden tops to the glass globes. It hasn’t moved since I anger-threw it in the middle of our music room. Sigh…There’s a hoarder in me too, Anne, but this one is too far gone!